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CES Kicks Out Vendors Who Try to Display, Carry Out Business in Hotel Suites

18 points by profquail 17y ago

blahedo 17y ago
So do the kicked-out, fully-paid-up vendors have legal recourse against the hotel at this point? Surely they must.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  That depends on the contract. If the contract stated that if they would do this they would get kicked out then likely not. They can still sue of course but it wouldn't help them much. If all it is is the CES management colluding with the hotel management then they've just killed CES. They ought to be happy with people coming there either way. And the exorbitant fees for exhibiting on the grounds are what drives this kind of tactics anyway. Lots of big consumer shows have this sort of thing happening around them, there is nothing wrong with it, it's just the market at work. Expect next years CES to be smaller than this years because of this. In the past it would usually be one or two very specific vendors that would draw me to an exhibition, and not always would the venue be on the grounds. But after seeing what I came for I would then go to the main exhibition anyway, just because I was already in the neighbourhood. These were mostly in Hannover and London, but I don't think the general principle changes much. Some very interesting small companies can simply not afford the out-of-touch-with-reality price per ft^2 that these exhibitions charge. Want power to your booth? That'll be $1500. Oh, and another $500 for the licensed electrician to plug that in to that socket. edit: thinking about this some more, I can't even recall having gone to an exhibition after 2000 or so, stuff is released all the time now and with the internet as a vehicle to get the information out there the days of the giant exhibition are probably numbered anyway.
mwexler 17y ago
This reminds me of the various cases against "guerrilla" advertisers during the Olympics: they don't register as official sponsors, but use sports themes, former Olympic champs, other evocative imagery to associate themselves with the Olympics and benefiting from the hype without paying the licensing fees. Like CES, the Olympics has been cracking down more and more.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  And, like the CES (and their hotel buddies) they shouldn't have a case. The Olympics are thousands of (well, ok, 1200+) years old, what do they want, a trademark on history ?
- edd 17y ago
  A great similar example of this was during the Football (soccer) World Cup 2006 Dutch fans were asked to remove their trousers (pants) and sit and watch the game in there pants (underwear) because the trousers (pants) had the logo of a company who was in direct competition of one of the 'Official Sponsors'. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jun/19/marketingandpr.worldcup2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jun/19/marketingandpr.w...
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    Which was absolutely and utterly ridiculous and which should have been challenged up to the highest courts. The rights of sponsors to sports events should not extend to the clothing of the audience.
eli 17y ago
Amusing, but ultimately this will make the conference less pleasant for everyone. It's not like every company can afford to rent legit meeting space (I doubt there's even enough to go around) and trying to have meetings on the show floor is awful.
jrockway 17y ago
Interesting. CEA has a contract with the hotels that says the hotel can't rent space as meeting rooms. People renting the room from the hotel have a contract (backed up by state law) that says they can. CEA's contract is bigger, so the hotel is willing to violate the small contract and the state law because presumably it is more cost-effective. Violating the law is more profitable than abiding by it. Too bad I can't just boycott all products advertised at CES.

18 points by profquail 17y ago

blahedo 17y ago

So do the kicked-out, fully-paid-up vendors have legal recourse against the hotel at this point? Surely they must.

jacquesm 17y ago
That depends on the contract. If the contract stated that if they would do this they would get kicked out then likely not. They can still sue of course but it wouldn't help them much. If all it is is the CES management colluding with the hotel management then they've just killed CES. They ought to be happy with people coming there either way. And the exorbitant fees for exhibiting on the grounds are what drives this kind of tactics anyway. Lots of big consumer shows have this sort of thing happening around them, there is nothing wrong with it, it's just the market at work. Expect next years CES to be smaller than this years because of this. In the past it would usually be one or two very specific vendors that would draw me to an exhibition, and not always would the venue be on the grounds. But after seeing what I came for I would then go to the main exhibition anyway, just because I was already in the neighbourhood. These were mostly in Hannover and London, but I don't think the general principle changes much. Some very interesting small companies can simply not afford the out-of-touch-with-reality price per ft^2 that these exhibitions charge. Want power to your booth? That'll be $1500. Oh, and another $500 for the licensed electrician to plug that in to that socket. edit: thinking about this some more, I can't even recall having gone to an exhibition after 2000 or so, stuff is released all the time now and with the internet as a vehicle to get the information out there the days of the giant exhibition are probably numbered anyway.

mwexler 17y ago

This reminds me of the various cases against "guerrilla" advertisers during the Olympics: they don't register as official sponsors, but use sports themes, former Olympic champs, other evocative imagery to associate themselves with the Olympics and benefiting from the hype without paying the licensing fees. Like CES, the Olympics has been cracking down more and more.

jacquesm 17y ago
And, like the CES (and their hotel buddies) they shouldn't have a case. The Olympics are thousands of (well, ok, 1200+) years old, what do they want, a trademark on history ?
edd 17y ago
A great similar example of this was during the Football (soccer) World Cup 2006 Dutch fans were asked to remove their trousers (pants) and sit and watch the game in there pants (underwear) because the trousers (pants) had the logo of a company who was in direct competition of one of the 'Official Sponsors'. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jun/19/marketingandpr.worldcup2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jun/19/marketingandpr.w...
- jacquesm 17y ago
  Which was absolutely and utterly ridiculous and which should have been challenged up to the highest courts. The rights of sponsors to sports events should not extend to the clothing of the audience.

eli 17y ago

Amusing, but ultimately this will make the conference less pleasant for everyone. It's not like every company can afford to rent legit meeting space (I doubt there's even enough to go around) and trying to have meetings on the show floor is awful.

jrockway 17y ago

Interesting. CEA has a contract with the hotels that says the hotel can't rent space as meeting rooms. People renting the room from the hotel have a contract (backed up by state law) that says they can. CEA's contract is bigger, so the hotel is willing to violate the small contract and the state law because presumably it is more cost-effective. Violating the law is more profitable than abiding by it. Too bad I can't just boycott all products advertised at CES.